Shoot! The Day Group Leader: Kareem Black

We first met photographer Kareem Black when he joined our panel discussion on our PhotoShelter City Tour in the Fall of 2007. He was funny, outspoken, and a fantastic marketer who once plastered posters around New York that read “Kareem Black to Marry Lindsay Lohan” as a way to drive traffic to his website. He’s heading our Youth Culture shoot on Shoot! The Day.

Photo by Kareem Black

Given all the controversy around Lindsay Lohan, are you glad you didn’t end up marrying her?

NO, Lindsay is a beautiful and tragically misunderstood soul. I
believe she is a genius and when the time is right out paths will
cross. I’m not sure if marriage is still our fate, but that doesn’t have
anything to do with her… I’m not in a marrying mood at this new point
in my life. Lindsay definitely seems like a party girl and I’m totally
into that as someone that parties pretty hard. She is a princess to me!


Photo by Kareem Black

Your Sugar-Free Kool-Aid campaign has a retro old school awesome feel.
Was the campaign a blast to work on? What was the process to style and
cast the shoot?

Photo by Kareem Black

The Kool-Aid Campaign is probably the series that I’m most proud of in
this point in my career. It was a tremendous leap of faith on the
clients part and i got to work with amazing people on the ad side of
things. I made some amazing friends on that shoot and the response to
it has been pretty good as well! In order to make the campaign have the
feel that you mentioned details like styling, casting and color pallet
were of utmost importance.. We took out inspiration for the look of the
project from the works of Jamil Shabazz.

It’s sugar-free too. That’s good for the kids, right?

I hate kids.. but i suppose that if there is no sugar in it the kids dental bills wont be so high.

You shoot a lot of diversity and youth culture. Did you enter these areas intentionally?

Well, I’m 30 so i can relate to youth culture. I have a pretty good
idea of whats cool and what not. But i enjoy taking portraits of people
of all ages. The interaction is what interests me. And often the most
interesting interaction is with people that are outside my age group
and from a different background than me.


Photo by Kareem Black

I saw a plateful of bugs you shot from Thailand. Um, did you eat them?

No.

Photo by Kareem Black

You have some stock photography. Is it something you actively plan/shoot, or are they mostly outtakes from commissioned jobs?

I do my stock photography through [redacted]. I try to do a few shoots a year for them. A solid stock photography library is an important [means of diversification].

[ed note: Kareem, let’s talk about that 35% you’re making…]

I watched some of your videos from Heavy.com. Tough day at the office, huh?

YES! Its harder shooting super hot internet models then one might think!